
Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith book by Jon Krakauer
By Jon KrakauerUnder the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith book by Jon Krakauer
A Story of Violent Faith
A multilayered, bone-chilling narrative of messianic delusion, savage violence, polygamy, and unyielding faith. This is vintage Krakauer, an utterly compelling work of nonfiction that illuminates an otherwise confounding realm of human behavior.
Jon Krakauer’s literary reputation rests on insightful chronicles of lives conducted at the outer limits. In Under The Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith, he shifts his focus from extremes of physical adventure to extremes of religious belief within our own borders. At the core of his book is an appalling double murder committed by two Mormon Fundamentalist brothers, Ron and Dan Lafferty, who insist they received a revelation from God commanding them to kill their blameless victims. Beginning with a meticulously researched account of this "divinely inspired" crime, Krakauer constructs a multilayered, bone-chilling narrative of messianic delusion, savage violence, polygamy, and unyielding faith. Along the way, he uncovers a shadowy offshoot of America’s fastest-growing religion, and raises provocative questions about the nature of religious belief.
Krakauer takes readers inside isolated communities in the American West, Canada, and Mexico, where some forty-thousand Mormon Fundamentalists believe the mainstream Mormon Church went unforgivably astray when it renounced polygamy. Defying both civil authorities and the Mormon establishment in Salt Lake City, the leaders of these outlaw sects are zealots who answer only to God. Marrying prodigiously and with virtual impunity (the leader of the largest fundamentalist church took seventy-five "plural wives," several of whom were wed to him when they were fourteen or fifteen and he was in his eighties), fundamentalist prophets exercise absolute control over the lives of their followers, and preach that any day now the world will be swept clean in a hurricane of fire, sparing only their most obedient adherents.
Weaving the story of the Lafferty brothers and their fanatical brethren with a clear-eyed look at Mormonism’s violent past, Krakauer examines the underbelly of the most successful homegrown faith in the United States, and finds a distinctly American brand of religious extremism. The result is vintage Krakauer, an utterly compelling work of nonfiction that illuminates an otherwise confounding realm of human behavior.
Book details
- Hardcover
- 390 pages
- English
- 0385509510
- 9780385509510
About Jon Krakauer
jon krakauer is an american writer and mountaineer, well-known for outdoor and mountain-climbing writing. Read More about Jon Krakauer
More Books By Jon Krakauer
People who bought this also bought
Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness book by Peter Godfrey-Smith
New Book
Raising Good Humans: A Mindful Guide to Breaking the Cycle of Reactive Parenting and Raising Kind, Confident Kids book by Hunter Clarke-Fields
New Book
Unmanned: Drones, Data, and the Illusion of Perfect Warfare book by William M. Arkin
New Book
Just Work: How to Root Out Bias, Prejudice, and Bullying to Build a Kick-Ass Culture of Inclusivity book by Kim Scott
New Book
The Way of the Superior Man : A Spiritual Guide to Mastering the Challenges of Women, Work, and Sexual Desire book by By David Deida
New Book
The Burden Of Freedom: Discover the Keys to Your Individual and National Freedom book by Myles Munroe
New Book
The Dumb Things Smart People Do with Their Money book by Jill Schlesinger
Used Book
Body and Soul: The Black Women's Guide to Physical Health and Emotional Well-Being by Linda Villarosa
Used Book
Loot: Britain and the Benin Bronzes: Britain and the Benin Bronzes book by Barnaby Phillips
New Book
A Line In The Sand: Britain, France And The Struggle That Shaped The Middle East book by James Barr
New Book
Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul: 101 Stories to Open the Hearts and Rekindle the Spirits of Women book by Jack Canfield
Used Book
I Heard God Talking to Me: William Edmondson and His Stone Carvings
Used Book
Innocent Ecstasy: How Christianity Gave America an Ethic of Sexual Pleasure book by Peter Gardella
Used Book
California Rich: The lives, the times, the scandals and the fortunes of the men and women who made and kept California?s wealth
Used Book
What My Mother and I Don't Talk About: Fifteen Writers Break the Silence book by Michele Filgate
New Book
International Airport: The Story of Kennedy Airport and U.S. Commercial Aviation book by George Scullin
Used Book
Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living book by Shauna Niequist
New Book
Hidden Potential :The Science of Achieving Greater Things by Adam Grant
New Book